Rogue Cyborg. Grace Goodwin
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anticipation of being fucked. By him. Oh yes, he was all intense, alien. Hell, every one of them on The Colony was, but there was something about Mak that set him apart, that made me hot.
“Absolutely not,” the governor said. “I have learned much from my mate.” He turned to look at Rachel, who smiled and walked over to his side. He lifted his arm so she could slide in close to his side, then lowered it to rest across her shoulders, his fingers idly caressing her. “You will choose a mate. There is not a male here who would deny you.”
The crowd roared in approval of that one, and I felt like an insect under a magnifying glass. Every male eye in the crowd was now focused exclusively on me. Shouting at me. Enticing me with flexed muscles or intense gazes. Good god. The governor had just unleashed the Kraken.
“Fine. I’ll choose my own mate.” I nodded once, relieved. “Good. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going.”
As I took a step toward the door I’d flung open, he called out, “You will choose a mate now. Right now. Before you leave the pit.”
I froze then spun on my heel. “Now?”
“Now,” he repeated. “You need a mate, to be claimed and marked so that the rest of the males know whom you belong to—”
“Whom I belong to?” I said, but he continued as if not hearing.
“—and will no longer find the need to fight in the mess hall, the outer courtyard or here in the pits.”
“Are you serious?”
He gave one decisive nod. “Very. Choose a mate or one will be chosen for you.”
“That’s right. You will do as the governor says. Maybe then you’ll be too busy to completely destroy our personal quarters,” Tyran cut in, now standing beside Kristin. She rolled her eyes at her mate and then winked at me.
“Now,” the governor said again, exerting his authority and using the example of my destruction of someone’s living space as another reason for his haste. He raised his hand to silence the crowd and the volume went from melee to library in a matter of seconds, every male there watching me with hope in his eyes.
I glanced quickly into the stands. Found Makarios. Looked away.
Every male but one.
Damn. Makarios was scowling, his arms crossed over his chest, his face an unreadable slab of stone. He could have been watching paint dry. “But—”
“If you are mated, then you will no longer be a source of such disruption. You will be put back on active duty and allowed to go on missions,” he added.
I bit my lip at that statement. At the fucking dangling carrot.
I angled my head down, stared at him through my lashes. Okay, I’d bite. “Let me repeat that just so we’re clear. I find myself a mate and I can go on missions again, even to fight the Hive.”
“That’s correct.”
He wouldn’t have tossed it out there if it weren’t true. He was the governor, for Pete’s sake. And, he’d said it in front of lots of people. Witnesses. He couldn’t back out now.
I couldn’t stay here on The Colony, grounded, for another day. The opportunity was too great. I just needed a mate. What did it matter? We could fuck and have fun and then I could go off on missions. Do my own thing. No connection except a good time. Any one of these males would be good in bed. But there was one who made me eager to get there. And now.
Even better, it was well known that he didn’t want a mate at all. I did not need an overly protective, possessive alpha male bossing me around, thinking I belonged to him. I needed freedom, and a smoking hot tumble in the sheets.
Refusing to glance up into the stands, I focused my thoughts on the one who made me hot, who could make my time between missions filled with orgasms. The idea… and the thought of Mak’s hands on me, his cock in me, was making me burn up with lust.
His eyes, light and piercing, would hold mine as he thrust into me. His skin was tanned, his jaw strong. With hair a little too long to be considered military cut, he stood out from the others. Even in the standard Coalition uniform, he stood out in a crowd. Taller than the other Atlans, he was a silent, sulking giant and I wanted to get under his skin and find out what made him tick. What made him hot. What made him burn.
There was nothing about him that overtly confirmed the rumor that he wasn’t Coalition military, that he wasn’t a fighter at all. But I believed the gossip. And those in the know said he was a rebel and smuggler from Rogue 5. That he broke laws as easily as he could crack skulls. That his code of honor and loyalty belonged to his Legion, one that ruled part of the rebel moon above the planet Hyperion. That he was different. Unique. Alone in the galaxy. One of a kind.
Exactly like me.
I put my hands on my hips. Hot sex. No strings. We’d both get what we wanted. “Fine.”
The governor arched a brow. “That easily? I should have given you an ultimatum days ago. This base wouldn’t be in such turmoil.”
I pursed my lips, not pleased he’d put all the blame for things being a little crazy on me. It wasn’t my fault the males were acting like a bunch of cavemen.
“Fighters, you willingly fought in the pit for this female. Will you now agree to allow her to select a mate?”
The four males puffed up their chests, lifted their chins. They nodded and agreed readily, no doubt confident, each of them, that I would choose him.
“Who do you choose, Gwendolyn Fernandez of Earth? Your decision will not be questioned, your answer final. Please state the warrior’s name and planet of origin, so there will be no confusion. Whom do you declare as your mate?”
This wasn’t the way I wanted to find a guy, but the perks were too good to pass up. A big cock attached to a hot guy and my freedom? I’d be able to go on missions, get off this planet for a while. The governor was being generous. If I didn’t agree, I had to assume he would take the choice away from me. I would be mated to someone within the hour, someone he would probably select. It was all down to whether I would choose my own destiny or allow the decision to be made for me.
The whole situation was unfair, but then, that was life on The Colony. Suckage and more suckage after that. The males here were even worse off than I was, if I was being perfectly honest. I had my pick of hundreds of sexy, virile, eager males. And they only had the hope that they’d be matched to an Interstellar Bride, and that was only if the system, the testing made a match. Hope for a bride… and me.
I looked at the four males before me, then up into the stands. At him. I lifted my hand and pointed, taking a deep breath to steady my nerves. I had no idea how this was going to go down, if he’d be pleased or appalled. If he was interested or would hate me for trapping him. But I knew two things. One, I wanted his body pounding into mine. I wanted to touch him. Smell him. I wanted skin to skin contact in a big way.
And two? If the rumors were true, and I believed they were, Mak didn’t want a mate. He didn’t want to be on this planet any more than I did. We were both trapped. Prisoners. We could have fun and use each other for our own ends.
Of all the males here, he was the only one who would give me what I really wanted… hot sex with no strings. Besides, if I had to choose, I was going to go for what my traitorous body craved. “I choose Makarios Kronos of Rogue 5.”
No one spoke. All was silent in the pit and the stands around it. Slowly, he stood.
Our gazes met.
Held.
I forgot to breathe.
Around us, no one moved. No one made a sound as a single beat of my pulse pounded through my ears like a bass drum. One beat.
Two.
Then all hell broke loose.